Now go to your
Rosenkreuzstilette folder on your hard drive and copy
it elsewhere. You don't want to screw up your original. Trust me, you will
be screwing with it.

Using
the RKSDAD to turn the bgm.dat file into a folder chocked full of all the
music in the game. Now read closely. I am going to say this on the next
line in all caps:

DELETE
THE bgm.dat FILE!

Let me
repeat that:

DELETE
THE bgm.dat FILE!

Your eyes
are not deceiving you. I said delete it. You don't need any more. The game
will run fine without it. As long as the bgm folder is there. Also, if you
don't get rid of the .dat file all the work you do won't turn up in the
game.

(Or, if you just can't bring yourself to do that, just
rename the .dat file.)

(I've
been wondering why the .dat files are even there. Why aren't they compiled
into the .exe? Are the .dat files generated by the program that erka:es
used to make Rosenkreuzstilette? Are they a security device to keep people
like me from being able to easily rip the graphics and turn them into comic
strips?)

Go into
the new bgm folder and you will see two different types of files: OGG and
INI.

This time
I don't recommend deleting all the INI files. What the INI does (from what
I can figure) is pretty much tell the game at what point in the song to
loop from. I recommend that you delete an individual INI on a per song basis.

Let's
choose a song to change. How about the one titled 'decision?' I'm picking
this song so I can go into a long boring technical explanation behind one
of the reasons why I said to use Audacity. When you see the waveform of
'decision' you should notice that it is longer than eight total seconds.

(The actual song itself is about six seconds,
for some reason there's a huge chunk of silence at the end.)However when playing RKS the whole song doesn't play. Only about
five to five-and-a-half seconds is played. The rest is cut off. I have been
having a bear of a time trying to find a song to fit in there. I can't even
get Megaman X4 stage start editedcorrectly.)

(

Okay, I'm done
picking on this song. So let's pick on another.)

After
choosing the replacement song. (Doesn't matter what,
you can use 'Panties in the Glove Box' for all I care.) I usually
open the new song up in another instance of Audacity,
Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C, go to the
Rosenkreuzstilette song,
Ctrl-A, delete,and
finally Ctrl-V. At about this
point in time is when I make the necessary edits and volume fixes.

When you're
ready, you need to export the file as an OGG Vorbis. It has to be in OGG
format. I tried MP3 and it didn't work. Audacity will ask if you want to
overwrite the original file, say yes. Turn on the game and your new sound
should play.

There's
still trial and error going on. Remember those INI files? This is where
they can create havoc. If you picked a new song that is shorter than the
amount of time it takes you play a stage, the song will start over. The
INI file make the song restart from the middle. If I was smart enough, (and
had any patience at all) I could decode the numbers in the INI. But, I just
stick to what I know. I edit the song so they are much longer or loop correctly.

By the
way, using the RKSDADqwertyuiop you can edit the graphics.

Rosenkreuzstilette
2:

Duchess Neuwahl:
Freu-ever.

For the last couple of years now a lot of us fans
have been bitching about the constant delays in Rosenkreuzstilette
2. Instead of continuing with what I started way back in the first
article, why not take in some appreciation of a back to back look at the
two demos?

With the first demo we get quite the bare bones game. Not much in the way
of thrills. The same sound and music. Same bad guys with touch ups to their
designs. However we get a real good look at the direction Isemiya and Womi
want to go in.

New hero. Freudia's move set is identical to Spiritia's, but her game is
much harder. You have a limited supply of you own weapon. Freu's weapon
is altered by the bosses she defeats. Think Zero. Many people compare Grolla
to Zero, duh hard to miss. But look at the way Freu's and Zero's weapons
are enhanced by beating bosses.

That lends itself to much more intricate gameplay. Can we please get more
weapon refills dropped?

Two things I found annoying: Freudia's incessant need to say "Freudenstachel"
almost every time she jumps. Her jumps tend not to be as far as you think
they'd be.

What I'm liking the most is the stage design. Not being so heavily reliant
on Megaman. While elements show up, there's a unique touch. Winds blowing
you around in Liebea's stage, blood rain and bloody floors in Grolla's,
to the use of those infernal disappearing bricks in Zorne's.

This is really a rough draft, much rougher than the demo to the first game.
There's potential there.

(Whilst digging through the graphics, I found
these unused backgrounds, maybe there was supposed to be an opening stage?)

Now we have the second demo. OUTSTANDING! I think it is better than the
first game. Isemiya and Womi are really going all out. They're pouring tons
of creativity into this.

Mostly. Let's get that out of the way. We get an opening stage, but Eifer's
attack is so similar to Freudia's in the first game. We have that Megaman
feeling in Sichte's stage with elements of Elecman and Crashman. As if Megaman
and Castlevania weren't enough, now we get Ghosts and Goblins. Those disappearing
blocks have a tendency to push you to the side causing you to fall. Seems
are still everywhere.

It's still a bit rough, but progress is evident.

Let's talk good. Freudia is much quieter. All new stage music. Jumping is
as it should be. Little things like the hands on the clock move. Difficulty
is much greater than the first game, you keep doing the stages and battles
you start to figure out the patterns. Just takes me a little longer this
time around.

We get an all new opening story.
Wow, no wondering why it's taking so long to get out the whole game.

The interesting bit I noted playing both demos back to back as I did for
this review, I think that the programmers are designing the second half
of each stage first, then doing the first half. The second part of Zorne's
and Grolla's stages are pretty much same in both demos, but the first parts
are almost completely different.

(Note I said "almost" and "pretty
much.")
Walking on blood is not like walking on water or ice. In most games I jump
to get walking at full speed, not here. It still takes an extra second to
get moving.

Another interesting note is that portions of Liebea's stage was shifted
over to Sichte's.

Even the game over screen.

Speaking of Sichte's stage, here's a little hint when having to deal with
erec_zako:

Overall Rosenkreuzstilette 2 is looking awesome. Based
on the second demo alone I give it an 8. Better than the first. But we have
to wait and see the whole game before passing any real judgement.